"Your in the AHRMA Now"
Career
Consultants Staffing Services of Austin contacted the club
around mid-May to see about using a club vehicle in a display
booth for the AHRMA annual conference to be held in the Palmer
Events Center late August. I stepped forward and
offered my vehicle and display items for their 10'x10' booth.
After several conversations with Jennifer, Julie, Amy and Chris of
CCSS regarding what they wanted, I assembled some gear and
provided a prototype booth display. Some slight
modifications were made and everything was finalized for the big
show.
Arriving at Palmer mid-morning Thursday, I set-up the
display booth. I knew going in that the 1/4 ton M38A1 was
11' long and had to fit in a 10' spot, but the convention
organizers had left an empty spot next to the booth space.
So in fine form, I seized the space until someone said I
couldn't. The display consisted of my 1953 M38A1 jeep, camo-net
on the backdrops, sandbags, field table, Bowman the mannequin, the
club donation bomb for business cards, and a variety of 'fuzzy
dice' to compliment the vehicle.
About 1pm, the CCSS crew arrived and assisted with the final
touches of the booth. Some rearranging took place and by
3:00pm, everything was set for the social party later that
evening. CCSS staff left and I headed home to clean up
and returned in a period correct '50's uniform. The evening
festivities were fun with the majority of the other vendors having
the opportunity to view their competition for the "best booth
display", and reconnecting from last years event.
Included during the evening were an Elvis
impersonator as well as a Marilyn Monroe look-alike.
The next morning included a keynote speaker and break-out
sessions for the attendees. An excellent buffet was also
provided. During the day, the attendees stopped by and had
their picture taken in the jeep. CCSS apparently has a
reputation for doing 'crazy' booth displays, and this years was no
exception. They passed out dog-tags embossed with their
website, and asked people to place business cards in the bomb.
Tear-down came fast and the CCSS crew really helped me out by moving about 50 sandbags to the truck. Once the jeep was
loaded and everything secured, the final raffle drawings took
place and the award of the "Best Overall Booth".
JB Goodwin was probably 2nd place, and Career Consultants kicked
A$$ with the grand prize/1st place. What an event!
